Ignorance Is Bliss
by Sage of the Sealed Paths
Summary: Shino hates being ignored. But at the same time, Shino forms his own opinion about what it means to be a ninja early on: Being ignored leads to opportunities. Opportunities to become the best ninja possible. And nothing will stand in his way.


It was during the academy years that Shino realized how much he hated being ignored. It was as if he was a ghost, or a side character, bound in a universe where there was no spotlight for him. He hated it. It was why his insects were always buzzing around. Normally, if one were to compare him to someone like his father, he would sound like a violent hurricane compared to the calm, silent voice that was Shibi Aburame. It did not mean he did not look collected, far from it. However, only those closest to him, i.e. his immediate family, picked up on his protest to be heard.

It was however, during the Chunin exams, when the young Aburame first learned the first two values of ignorance: Firstly, that Ignorance of others allowed one to be sure of their own power, because then in one's own reality, they would be the strongest. Secondly, being the subject of Ignorance of others allowed one to survive, because there was no way he and his team could even hurt the monster that was Gaara at that point in time. Only thanks to his ignorance and focus on the much louder Ame team did they survive and not encounter him. He still hated being ignored.

All these thoughts were being compiled while in their room after finishing the second exam in the Forest of Death. As the silent one of his team, he zoned out Kiba's complaints of the other teams and Hinata's muffled agreements before she slipped back into her daydreams. His thoughts shifted towards the demon from sand. It was an epithet he had heard after prodding others for a while, but now he wondered about the deeper meaning behind it. Was there something more to a name than an exaggeration? He would need to do more research when he got the time.

XXX

The month between the preliminary matches and the final portion of the chuunin exams was enlightening to say the least. He had discovered about the existence of the Jinchuuriki after many sleepless nights. His sensei was beginning to worry about his training; he was always stuck in the library, but he had assured her that he would be fine. He had discovered about the jinchuuriki and consequently the tailed beasts inside them, all information stored in an ever expanding and edited book by the all the previous HOKAGE for crying out loud. It seemed to be one constantly being added to like a journal. What was more amazing about it however, was the book itself. One would think that it would be a gold-bound book tucked in some secret scroll or something. But perhaps its simplistic, generic and blank cover was best. After all, one would hardly think something like a simple generic book in the midst of other generic books in a library filled with information would hold anything important or more significant than other books.

It reminded him of another figure he had recently read about, of a legendary Aburame who had once commandeered a legion of strange masked leeches, his colony being dubbed "The Zero Bliss", a colony able to reduce all to oblivion, to make the enemy feel despair right in the face of death, a bliss-less death with supposedly no afterlife for the victim. The existence of the shinobi and his colony was only known to his clan as a clan secret. Not even the Hokage was aware.

'Perhaps that should be what a ninja should be like' he thought, 'No flashy jutsu, no well-known reputation, just a non-descript nobody who would walk the earth, assassinate, do other ninja-esque jobs, then die, wither away, forgotten in the sands of time. It seems so bland in that aspect. So, why be a Ninja? But then, should it be exciting to kill someone? I would hope not. I would hate to be like the sand jinchuuriki. But then, what would make him so mad and insane? He even pushes away his brother and sister. It is as if he had no friends in his childhood- well in hindsight, having a demonic entity in you might isolate a person from the rest of society. Come to think of it, if jinchuuriki end up like Gaara, shouldn't the Hidden Leaf also have a demonic insomniac? If we have a tailed beast, who could it be? The Kyuubi was killed by the 4th a few years ago on October 10th –It is Naruto isn't it? No one else could have such a massive stamina or chakra pool other than a jinchuuriki. But then, why would the 4th choose Naruto, a random baby for that task? Was it because he was an orphan? Was it because he was closest at that moment? But then, why would Naruto be close to the 4th at that time? Damn it, I can't figure this out.'

It was on the edge of his mind, but Shino could not make the connection.

XXX

Besides the one puzzlement of why the 4th had chosen Naruto as a jinchuuriki, Shino decided to think about that later. As he packed up his book, and got up to leave, His mind was in a whirlwind. He had plans to accomplish, places to go to, and who knows, after everything else, maybe even worlds to shake.

XXX

As he walked through the Forest of Death, Shino easily found the area where the corpses of the Ame ninja were located. The smell of blood was distinct enough and easy for his insects to trace. As he came closer to the sand, he could hear a hum in the area, belonging to the remnant chakra in the sand. Focusing his Kikaichu on one spot in the sand, he commanded them to descend and absorb the demonic chakra.

XXX

He still hated being ignored. That much Shino admitted to himself as he found out that the Sasuke Retrieval Team had already gone ahead without him. So creating a clone of himself, he left after the team. Of course, he always seemed to arrive near the end of any fight. Really, it was perfect for him. Choji had just finished defeating the first member of the Sound Four. However, what he failed to realize was that, just as he was losing consciousness, Jirobo started to stand, having survived the previous onslaught. He was just about to charge for a final blow before he would absorb the remaining life force from the shrimp that had beaten him so bad. However, he briefly felt a prick on his neck before seeing a large sand-colored beetle, about half the size of his palm. He turned to swat the darn bug, before he realized his hand was not moving. Its as if he was being paralysed by an almost demonic chakra. Before he could move his hand however, his body started to fall, and his curse mark faded.

As this was happening, the bug transformed, becoming small threads of sand, before burrowing into the boy's neck. The threads then started to form small sand colored bugs, before latching onto blood cells. Each small bug then started to absorb the chakra and blood, as well nutrients as it traveled, attached to the cell. Small dots were then expelled from each bug, before each dot absorbed more of the surrounding body mass and chakra and became a small bug.

XXX

Pretty soon, all that was left of Jirobo was his clothes, his body fully assimilated into the new mass of living sand chakra bugs. As Shino came from behind the tree he was hiding, he smirked underneath his hood. His first sand bug was a success. He even assimilated the strange chakra from the boy's neck mark, one now being assimilated into the rest of his hive. From what his small colony told him, the mark would allow his bugs to gather energy from the natural environment itself, allowing a larger emergency supply of chakra if the need ever rose. His colony, while a bit smaller due to the weakness some had to the demonic chakra he absorbed earlier, would now be able to move onto the next enemy. Now to move onto the next target.

XXX

Unknown to anyone on the Retreival team, Shino continued to spy on everyone, absorbing the being formerly known as Kidomaru and gaining access to his spiders and giving all of his kikaichu bugs the webs needed for trapping enemies more easily. Thanks to Jirobo's ability to absorb chakra more quickly, combined with the demonic chakra of Shukaku, the body was absorbed into the masses between the time the web-man fell from his branch and the time his clothes touched the ground.

XXX

The girl, there was something about here that Shino could simply not point out but that his bugs buzzed about, so rather than absorb her, he reasoned he would hold her captive, and do with her later. The conjoined twins though, he had no qualms about absorbing. It was a bit harder given that they were in Kankuro's puppets, but even a puppet had openings. Later, when the moving puppet coffin would be opened, no one would be able to figure out just exactly how two full bodies could disappear after death, leaving only they're clothes behind.

XXX

Gaara would put it down to a disease having put down the boy that almost killed him. After all, his drill was only inches away from impaling his head. No one was even paying attention to his more than sifting sand. Afterwards, when he was leaving the site of battle with Rock Lee, Gaara though his sand bag was a bit livelier but when he checked there was nothing wrong with it, nor the sand inside. He also missed the phenomenon that happened to the bone forest behind him. Had he stayed behind, he might have seen the entire mass of spikes breaks and dissolve into a mixture of bone and sand, before flying away and surrounding the Aburame observer making his way towards the Valley of the End.

XXX

Sasuke was worried. No matter what he did, Naruto continued to counter, being able to pump more of that strange chakra until now it was massing into a fox-like cloak. He was matching his own complete Cursed Seal Level two for crying out loud. The boy couldn't think for the like of him why this was happening. Nevertheless, he surged forwards with his enhanced Chidori, intent on finishing his rival once and for all, and gaining the Mangekyou Sharingan. As the attacks collided, a sphere of energy was formed. In the last moment, as he and Naruto were trying to punch each other in the last moment, his sharingan found something strange. While he continued to punch forward, a few bugs flew onto the unsuspecting Naruto, and in the blink of an eye, absorbed the majority of the fox-cloak on the ninja, weakening him to the point of his clawed hand only grazing his forehead protector instead of palming his head into the cliff behind him. As Naruto faded into unconsciousness, Sasuke tried to stand, only to fall again at the prick on his neck. The last thing he saw as he looked up was the cold glasses of Shino Aburame looking down on him. His eyes widening were the only indication of his surprise, his body unable to do anything else for the time being. Then, he saw black.

XXX

Tayuya watched as Hidan screamed in terror. It was to be expected. Not many people survived this long against Shino's Kikaichu Bugs, especially when they would be eating you alive. Perhaps that was one of the downsides of immortality: you experience pain without the ease of a simple death to run to. Kakuzu had retreated a little while ago, no doubt one of the smarter things to be done, almost too late considering that 2 of his hearts' chakra system and network had been taken before the man had noticed much. Hidan on the other hand, had thought he could survive, given his immortality. It had been his down fall. Had he taken some blood from any of the two however, it would have been a different story all together. That was fortunately not the case. She watched as Shino approached the dying form of Yugito Ni. The girl was semi-concious, having been brutally injured by Hidan before, and it would only be a matter of time before she died. Had she or Shino known any medic skills then she could have been saved. However they did not, nor were they willing to reveal their location to the Hidden Cloud and by proxy the Hidden Leaf once the news spread.

"Wh-who are you?" came a soft question from the pained lips of the dying jinchuuriki.

"Nobody" came the curt reply, given from the hidden lips of the young Aburame. It was correct in a way. Ninja's were supposed to be nobodies, given no concrete identity, and made to kill in secret, with the utmost anonymity. At some point in the past this concept had become perverted and obsolete, with only the most remote of organizations following this ideal.

"Are you going to kill me?" the dying Jinchuuriki asked. She was too tired to move, to pained to fight, and frankly, it pained her that no reinforcements had been gathered by her village to come to her rescue. The world seemed to be cruel that way. Many thought the Hidden Cloud was the best to its jinchuuriki. That was only technically correct, but they were only treated slightly better than others if she heard correctly. Killer Bee, her brother in all but blood, was relegated the guardian of one half of the village, while she the other, distanced to the margins of the village. She had no one to fight for, to be fought for, nor any strength left. She simply wished to die right now. Yes, a peaceful death by these ninja, these Nobodies, would be nic-Ugk!

As gruesome as it was, Tayuya watched, as bugs flew from Shino's sleeves, sand collored and red, fusing with the girl before absorbing her chakra, the chakra of her bijuu, and then all her nutrients, mass producing enough new bugs to fit the entire Aburame clan compound. These bugs were slightly blue, flickering like flames, a new evolution in the generations of bugs in Shino's gargantuan hive. The trait would soon assimilate into the rest of the older bugs as well, as well as the increased chakra capacity. Beyond that, the immortality of Hidan was also now imbued in this generation, making them nigh impossible to kill, and with their sand regeneration and numerous other powers, even more unstoppable than before. But what exactly were the two of them, barely 17, doing on the outskirts of the Hidden Cloud, away from the Hidden Sound or Leaf? It all began about 3 years ago, after he saved yet captured her from death.

XXX

_(Flashback)_

As Sasuke fell, Shino contemplated the route to go on from there. Killing either Naruto or Sasuke would be easy enough, though he wasn't ruthless enough to kill his own comrade, was he? But if Sasuke, a traitor were to die then Naruto would be held for question and if he could not recollect a murder then there might be problems. The dilemma was almost further escalated when he saw Sasuke recognize him at the last second. It was averted however, with the reassurance that Sasuke would probably keep his encounter to himself. But if Sasuke were to go to Orochimaru for power, things might take a turn for the worse in the future. Considering all these options, Shino took out a few bugs, before shifting them into the form of Jirobo, who then proceeded to take Sasuke away to Orochimaru's hideout, or atleast, where he hoped the hideout would be. The Jirobo clone would probably not be able to hold an act together, that was too difficult at this stage and from such distance. However, given that Jirobo had been through a huge fight, it would not be difficult to have 'Jirobo" die. What would happen after, would be slaughter on Orochimaru.

XXX

As he made his way away from the scene of the battle, Shino went to the makeshift hideout he had made, where the Red-haired girl of the Sound Four lay. The girl seemed to be unconscious, yet in pain. Making a note, he quickly covered her in bugs to make her unrecognizable, while also disguising himself, then decided to run quickly to the nearest village that was not the Hidden Leaf. A hospital worker was forced to work on the girl, but beyond that, not much else had to be done. All that needed to be done now was wait for a dialogue with the girl in question.

XXX

Tayuya had awoken to sore legs, and an all too quiet boy standing next to her. Said boy was quickly swatted at, much like an insect ironically. He then withstood her complaints and hate-filled speech. He then proceeded to ask her questions as to the whereabouts of Orochimaru's hideouts and whatnot. Her poor defence to defend her former master had crumbled however, when her curse mark had been removed from her, allowing her to feel a liberation never felt in almost a decade of service to the wretched snake. All of her hatred towards him flew out, and in the exhaustion, made her pass out.

The next time she awoke, she was still wary of the boy sitting right there. It had taken a few more nights and days with the boy, but she had warmed up to his logic-based attitude, which, although a bit annoying at first, stopped her from swearing her head off- if the person you're talking to isn't affected by it then it's really just a waste of breath at that point.

She didn't know when she fell in love with the Bug Boy but she supposed it was somewhere between his removing her curse mark, to the night she felt a kindred soul in him as an outcast, one always ignored by others and put lower than everyone else. She hadn't told him of course, but then she couldn't find a way to do so. The boy had inexplicably run away from Konoha after he saw the advantages of being ignored. And such was his way, she guessed, to find out just how good of a ninja one could be, if no one knew of you. But in this he had also closed himself to social environments.

The one time she tried to ask him out on an outing indirectly, he completely misinterpreted it. The scenes that followed- well they would be conversations for another time. And so here she was, following the boy who strove to be the best ninja ever, yet one whose social life could really get some work done.

XXX

Sasori never saw it coming. After all, in the middle of a desert, one does not expect mini-bijudamas to pop up from the desert all around him and pierce him to kingdom come. As for Diedara, as powerful and high-up as he was, he never expected the building tops of the Hidden sand village to simply blast Tailed Beast Bombs all around him. Had he had enough clay then it might have been different. However, with low clay, there was nothing he could do but marvel at the art that was the explosion of lights reaching for him, satisfied in the end. His clay and hand had already been taken when Gaara was manipulating the sand in his gourd, and thus the dormant sand insects hidden by Shino had assimilated it into their network. Afterwards, a small fraction of the sand insects hidden as the entire sand village and desert had activated and destroyed Deidara with explosions, reverse engineered through an assimilation of the Kyuubi chakra. In the aftermath, when everyone else in the village was wondering about just how the Bomber had been taken out, Gaara was devoured, his biju chakra taken and assimilated into the ever-increasing colony of Shino-not that anyone suspected this, they simply thought the explosions were a last attempt by Gaara to save the village, with his body disintegrating in the explosions. Had anyone bothered to look closely at the clothes during the funeral, they would have realized they had received no damage from any explosions besides the ones that Deidara gave him, not that they would be able to differentiate between the two.

XXX

Orochimaru snarled as he escaped. He hated escaping. Yet he never saw the ambush coming. Well, atleast the second ambush. The first he knew about, that being Sasuke's attempt to kill him. However he was caught by surprise when Kabuto came in, panicking as his body became covered in sand. All around them, the walls caved in, and surrounding them, were all of the inmates in this particular hideout. Unfortunately, it was also one of the bigger ones, and leading the charge of crazed level two cursed seal users was Jirobo. The boy's sanity had crumbled years ago after he had brought Sasuke to Orochimaru and he had been detained with the other failed cursed seal users. His existence had not been noted for quite some time.

Before his eyes, Kabuto was covered in sand, before his form began to disintegrate, become one with the sand. Soon after, the sand reformed again, into Kabuto, only this time, calm and collected- not unlike the other supposedly 'crazed' inmates. It struck both Sasuke and Orochimaru as odd, given that they should firstly, be in their cells, and secondly they weren't attacking like morons. When they did attack, every strike was coordinated, all flips and turns were made to help others get a better shot at Orochimaru.

To add on to the surprise bandwagon, once some inmates got close enough, they exploded into a mass of bones, similar to Kimmimaro's Kekkai Genkai. But that should be impossible, Kimmimaro died 3 years ago, and was the last living Kaguya to wield the ability.

At this point Orochimaru realized it was a hopeless battle. He was in a wearing body, his enemies had unknown abilities, and for the moment, even Sasuke had somehow fled. Without a moments hesitance, he unleased a seal on his arm, momentarily repelling everything in his immediate vicinity, before activating another, reverse summoning him to the land of the snake summons. He had to gather his thoughts together.

XXX

Shino cursed.

Orochimaru had escaped, as his now reuniting bug colonies told him. Any survivors of that hideout had fled, perhaps only three of four in total, including Sasuke. However, for the snake to still be on the loose meant that he was no longer a complete secret to everyone in the world. He had made sure to keep his bugs in an amorphous sand-like shape to keep secrecy, but even he knew it would not last much longer. Times were changing, and if he did not act soon enough, Nobody would become Somebody.

Before he could rant to his bugs much longer, he heard a sound. Not one of danger this time mind you, but rather one of sleep, calm and relaxing. It was Tayuya, playing her flute. Perhaps she had heard his agitation, after all his bugs could become a bit loud. It seemed almost surreal, before only close family members could hear his anger, yet now, even a girl he had only known for 3 years was able to pick up on it. He wondered just what it was about her that made him keep her alive. He could have killed her after giving she gave information and he would have less of a burden. Yet, he had perhaps seen the hatred she had for being thought of as beneath a person, just like his hatred for being ignored. Yes there was still a childish, raw side of him that hated being ignored, yet the much larger rational side told him that it was the way of the Ninja. And so he let it be.

Before he drifted off to sleep, he wondered how everyone in Konoha was doing. He had left a clone, yes, with a lot of kikaichu bugs after he retrieved Tayuya, and had yet to feel it break up. Perhaps the Natural energy was keeping it alive. Yet he felt a need to see how everything was going on, to keep tabs on everyone, and make sure his clone was not being sabotaged. Yes, now was a good a time as any, to visit the Hidden Leaf once more.

XXX

Kakuzu could not believe his bad luck. He only wanted the 7-tailed Beetle Jinchuuriki, who was currently dying. Perhaps he beat her up a bit too much. Once he started facing the Konoha nin, there was simply something he could not pinpoint earlier in the battle. The Akimichi was no trouble. The Yamanaka was no trouble. The Nara boy was annoying. Everyone else was also irrelevant except the Hatake Boy, he was a small challenge. So when he felt his water heart die, he was enraged. When another heart died, he was furious. How could these imbeciles actually be putting up a fight. Then he saw the Aburame boy and almost pissed his pants. He had to be the reason! The reason why he kept feeling like he lost all muscle movement right before his hearts stopped. He had felt it before as well, only his opponent was not as visible, but now, he was sure it was him. He gave him the chills.

So when he ignored everyone else and focused all of his fire power on the boy, most were visibly startled. They were also a bit horrified when the boy seemed to have been vaporized by the combination of lightning fire and wind chakras. It was all for naught however as the boy then reappeared on the other side of Kakuzu, the other obviously a bug clone. Everyone was more so startled however, when Kakuzu decided to abandon everything and run away, cleansing his body with fire to remove any bugs trying to get on, and using his fire and wind mask, create a smokescreen and fly away. He didn't touch the ground until he knew he was safe behind the Akatsuki hideout walls. Everyone there was also startled.

Back at the sight of the battle, when the smoke cleared, everyone had a load of questions for Shino, including why the man ran when he saw Shino, as if he seemed to recognize him. None saw the near dead body of Fuu, or even her muffled scream as she was devoured alive, with the chakra of the Bug Bijuu now flowing through the collective hive. Everyone assumed she was taken by the Akatsuki. But for now, they tore their attention to Shino, who before this, was always in the background. Even Naruto, who had just come from his own training, was confused as to why Shino was getting so much attention. And exactly what he had missed and what emergency there might be.

XXX

Truth be told, it had been simpler than he had thought. Being back in the Leaf in almost 3 years, Shino had anticipated the reactions his friends might have had, had anyone such as Kakuzu, seen him. It was one of the downfalls of his goal to becoming the best ninja possible. The man had recognized him and fled in terror. Shino sympathized with the man a bit. He supposed it was similar to his reaction when he saw Gaara for the first time.

XXX

At the moment, while he tried to brush off the questions his friends had, Shino was debating with himself whether to annihilate the Akatsuki where they stood, or allow Kakuzu a lease on life. The man was no longer a threat, that he had made clear with the silent, subconscious plea in his eyes to never face him down again. While the man had been smart to clear himself of all bugs in his surroundings, well suffice to say that in their first encounter it was in a much more darker setting, with many more hidden bugs than one could anticipate. Even then, the one large, infused bug in Kakuzu's brain could gather enough energy to blow everyone in the vicinity to kingdom come in a storm of bone, bugs, blue fire, piercing sand and corrosive chakra. His control over his bugs had reached a multi-continent wide scale, and with a bit of fore planning, he had networks of insects all around the continent, allowing for a much faster relay of messages. As he droned all other questions out, his mind partially shifted to the Akatsuki Emergency meeting taking place, with all members currently located in the Hidden Rain Village. It was almost too perfect.

XXX

"What is the meaning of this, Kakuzu?! And where is Hidan" The main Pain body questioned, a stern look on his face. He seemed a bit worn, most probably due to his fight with his former master Jiraya, finished not long ago with his victory. Around him, the remaining Akatsuki members stood, those being Kisame, Konan, Zetsu, "Tobi", and Itachi. Behind them, lay the defeated forms of the Three Tails, as well as the jinchuurikis of the Four, Five, and Six Tails. The Eigth tails and Nine Tails were still not controlled but for some reason, the One Tailed beast and his jinchuuriki had been killed even though Zetsu reported a victory for Diedara, and the whereabouts of the Two Tails was unknown to the others given that Kakuzu and Hidan were supposed to have her, never mind the Seven tails which was supposed to be caught at a later date.

Kakuzu himself looked haggard, worse for wear, and drained of most chakra, even with multiple hearts. "The Jinchuuriki are not the problem! Hidan and I had captured the Two Tails, but at the last moment, two other Shinobi came in. They were hard to see in the darkness, but one used what I think are insects to eat Hidan alive as well as devour the two tailed. I fled before I could be killed but I am afraid even Hidan is no more. I then tried to capture the Seven Tails on my way, but was intercepted by a team from Konoha. I would have beaten them then and there, but somehow the same boy from earlier was on the same team! It was cowardly yes, but I fled. There is no way I am facing that demon again. I Quit!" He tossed his ring on the ground with such force it cracked the floor directly beneath it.

As he started to walk away from the group, he was blindsided by "Tobi" or as he would go by now, Madara. Before he could comprehend, he had lost both arms and one leg, before being smashed into a wall.

"This organization has no room for the cowardly or the weak Kakuzu!" exclaimed Madara. "Perhaps it's your old age that is getting you beat, but a mere chunin by the looks of it beat you! It's time you retire permanently I say!" He prepared to weave the hand seals for a fire jutsu, certain in ending the life of the Akatsuki Treasurer. What baloney, for him to be beaten so easily!

As he lay there, Kakuzu hated his life. As he reflected on it, he realized how truly despicable the ninja way of life was. In his youth, his parents had been taken from him by war, leaving him alone on the streets to live. He had risen as a great ninja in the Hidden Waterfall Village. He had even fallen in love, with the most beautiful girl in the entire village. Their romance was one many would have inspired to have, had it lasted longer. His wife, on the night before she was due with their first child, had been brutally injured by enemy ninja, with the child being miscarried. Then she might have survived, but the operation was too costly and while he would have slaved for years if it meant she could survive, no one besides his beloved believed him. She died the next day, on the day of their first wedding anniversary. It hadn't broken him, but had turned him into a brutal killing machine, a perfect ninja. But even after all this, he had been betrayed by his village after failing to kill Hashirama Senju. Now he was once again being killed for failure. He honestly wished he could do away with this whole system of lies, this miserable lifestyle of the Ninja way.

As the fireball came closer however, he heard a voice in his head. It was the Aburame boy, in an infused beetle in his brain. At that moment, Kakuzu realized just how outclassed he had been. He could have been killed at any moment since their first encounter. Yet as he found out, the boy had been about to give him a free lease on life had he quit, no strings attached. There was something in the mercy displayed then and there that made all of Kakuzu's hearts break.

"Tell me boy, why are you like this? Your friends when we battle, looked like they never knew of your infamy, so obviously you had been hiding, and perhaps you were sustaining a clone for years while away from the village, but what is the purpose of all this?"

The replay was quick: Because to be the best ninja, one works in anonymity, in the complete ignorance of others, and hence, only the most unknown of ninjas become the best ninjas. And his goal was to be the best. The next question from the old man however, threw him off slightly.

"So will you remain the best forever? In time, someone will beat you, and your title will fall." It was a purposefully asked question. In his own selfish way, Kakuzu realized that if anything, this was the way for his own dream to come true. Indeed if anything he probably would not be able to see it, but perhaps now, husbands could sleep with their wives and children instead of avenging their graves.

Shino saw what the man meant. It was an objective filled with blood, horror, and trials, but perhaps not all too surprising. He had noticed it himself. While not maniac or insane like Gaara, he was ruthless and cold-blooded in his devouring now. He still had a mercy inside of him yes, but for the life of him he could not figure out why he had not become insane by this point in time.

"You will die here today, Kakuzu, but rest assured your death will not be in vain. It might be more painful yes, but die with the peace that if nothing more, the plan of your traitor will not come to fruition, whatever it may be."

Kakuzu smiled, a genuine smile not seen since he found out he was going to be a father. "Go forth then, young boy, and may you achieve your dream for the better of this world." With that, the two of them started to fade from the blank plane of existence they were communicating on. For Kakuzu, he felt his body turn around, right before he felt an inner bliss, in himself, as if he was the lightest thing in the world.

"I am coming, dearest Ryuzetsu. Rest assured, I am coming at last."

As his soul started to ascend out of his body, Kakuzu felt pleasure in the events unfolding around his exploding body.

Hell had broken loose.

XXX

The fire ball really was no match. It was the same with Kisame. It was also the same with Konan. Zetsu was ripped to shreds. Fortunately for him however, even a shred of the original was enough to survive. Pain deflected the attack, although almost too late. For Itachi, he had to resort to his Susano'o Final Defense. As for Madara, he phased through the attack. His mask however, did not.

The explosion of bone, bugs and burning sand however did not stop in the immediate vicinity of the room in the Hidden Rain. The remaining Jinchuuriki as well as the Three Tails, were completely engulfed, before being devoured in seconds. All around the room, gigantic bone shards, blue fire, and brilliant, blinding dust expanded outwards, before breaking through the walls of the room. Kakuzu had willing given his body for the bug in his body to use, and that meant all of his available chakra. First the eight gates had been chewed through, then the resulting flare of chakra had been used in it's entirety. 5 minutes after the initial explosion, the Steel city of the Village Hidden in the Rain, was no more. Where there were once buildings, gigantic Bone Spires now stuck out, encased in blue fire and swimming in a pool of acidic magma, shrouded in the red mist of it's former inhabitants. The city would, and could never be rebuilt into the steel structures it had before. However, thought it might be a long time, eventually, it would be inhabitable again, just this time, as the Misty Village Hidden in the Brilliant Burning Bones of the Behemoth.

As he viewed his surroundings, Obito stood confused. How could Kakuzu possibly have such a trump card for a suicide move. It defied all logic. He would never then have to be a coward if he had that much power- unless that was not him but someone else. But who could it have been, the last person he had been in contact with was a chuni- shit, there was no way that was possible, he hadn't visited the Hidden Leaf in forever but could the child of his former sensei have been raised by the Aburame clan? He had used insects after all but still, it simply did not make sense. Then would the plan have to be accelerated? But what about the tailed beasts, they were now missing, and would take time to reform. There were still dregs of their individual chakras left so would that be enough? Perhaps so, because the ten tails could then be reformed once chakra generation started again. He would need to act fast and act quickly if this meeting was anything to go by.

Warping quickly, Obito came into Itachi's defenses. The boy was low on chakra and could barely move. It seemed that some bugs had gotten to his body and were eating through him. The bugs were extraordinary by this point, possessing chakra from over 7 Bijuu, and hence, when Obito came, he took the other Uchiha's eyes with extreme prejudice, lest he be sucked of his body as well. A quick implant allowed for him to unlock his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. He wasn't done yet however. Warping to Nagato, he took the Uzumaki by surprise, phasing through his Shinra Tensei before plucking out his eyes as well. The killing was easy after that. Another transplant and using chakra, he merged the Rinnegan with his own Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, forming two Eternal Mangeyou Rinne-Sharingan. Quickly summoning the Gedo Statue, he called forth the Phantom Dragons, and absorbed all of the chakra from the surrounding insects. As powerful as they were, they were still no match for the absorption power of the corpse of the Ten Tails. It was with a sigh that Obito noted, only small amounts of 8 Tailed Beast Chakras had been collected.

XXX

As Zetsu reappeared from underneath the ground, now in a very miniaturized state, Obito strengthened his resolve. Whether he would have to wait now or wait 5 years, he would first sweep the opposition. When the tailed beats would next reform, it would be a small matter of absorbing them all. For now however, destroying all 5 Shinobi Villages would have to suffice. As for the boy, the chuunin who he was certain had done all this, he had won this round, but with a burning resolve ironically like the Will of Fire, the oldest Uchiha vowed to have the boy's head at his feet one day.

XXX

The world was changing. That was for certain.

As he lay there in his bed, Shino contemplated the hidden events of the day. He now had almost 7 Bijuu's worth of chakra and abilities in his control. Some had been lost when the formerly masked man had used a strange jutsu to absorb all chakra within some of his bugs. The statue was a problem, and one he had to get rid of fast, along with the last member of Akatsuki. The man was really dangerous, and because he had encountered his bugs with none stuck to him, would be even more so than any he had faced so far. Shno's one advantage however, was that his face was a mystery to the formerly masked man, an Uchiha by the looks of his eye.

Soon news would spread throughout the land of the Hidden Rain's Fate. It would cause fear for sure, but fortunately, none would be any the wiser that an Aburame was the one behind it. He needed to hurry with his own plan. Even a drunkard could see, if they knew of course, that, for as powerful as he was becoming, Shino Aburame's identity was coming closer and closer to being revealed. It would be fine however, once he was the best ninja in the land. After that, none would be able to take him on. Or rather, none would exist to take him on.

XXX

It had taken 1 hour.

And a day to get ready. But 24 hours after the Hidden Rain was terraformed, the Hidden Cloud village stood no more. Obito attacked. Really, it's not as if it mattered. People could have said Madara attacked. Or Tobi, or Nobody. The problem was, no one remained alive to witness the attack. At least, no one willing to spill the beans. A huge portal had simply appeared beside the Hidden Cloud, before shurikens the size of buildings came through, buffed by wind chakra to become the world deadliest stars of death ever. In one attack, 50 percent of the civilian population was annihilated. The release of the sealed Amaterasu fire from inside the shuriken killed 25 percent more. With these attacks, 33 percent of the ninja forces were wiped. The Raikage had gone immediately to battle, and befitting his position, had proceeded to engage the man who stepped out of the portal as well. He was soon joined by his brother.

They were still no match. A fist of lightning? Shinra Tensei. 7 swords spinning to decapitate your head? Asura Path was superior. A Double Lariat? Kamui, and the result? Two brothers, wounded by each others' own attack. A Tailed Beast Bomb point blank? Preta Path. A full on Eight Tails? Multiple summons to distract, before the Raikage's soul was ripped out, and the Eight Tails sealed in a Chibaku Tensei. The Biju Chakra was then absorbed by the assailant, having fused with the Gedo Statue itself. What remained of the Hidden Cloud did not fight, for everyone knew despair when it was mocking them straight in the face.

After the masked man left, the chibaku tensei collapsed, but what was remaining of Killer Bee's body, was inexplicably devoured by insects, along with the last dregs of the Eight Tails' Power. The Hidden Cloud could have attempted a suitable reconstruction if they were honest with themselves. But when the Entire Shinobi Council, along with all clan heads and most Jounin were found missing, with only their clothes remaining, the civilians and low ranked ninja knew it was time to go. There would be no Hidden Cloud Village anymore. No, now there would be a fragment of the once great village, travelling the road, hoping to find even a dim lit light in a dark future.

XXX

4 Villages remained.

XXX

The Hidden Mist Village fell the next day. They were one of the easier ones. After all, they had just come out of a bloody civil war. So when they were assaulted by multiple Tailed beast Bombs, then a massive statue appearing at the edge of the village, the Godaime Mizukage could only look on in despair. Unlike the Raikage, who would attack first, think later, she knew better. She also knew the repercussions of trying to fight back. A messenger had just gotten back from scouting out what Aoi had picked up as truly massive chakra signatures near The Former Hidden Cloud. She had only known of the Hidden Cloud's ruination for 5 minutes before news of the current assault began.

So as she evacuated all lower rank shinobi, her Anbu, Swordsman, and herself fought to delay inevitable defeat. Bijuu Bombs were bludgeoned one into another in the sky, courtesy of well-timed strikes from Chojuro's Chakra Hammer Sword. Chojuro himself looked to be on the verge of death, having accessed as many Inner Gates as he could, combining the Hirudora with his sword. She herself had melted the ground around the Giant Statue's feet, sinking it half way into an acidic molten pit. Suffice to say, it was… actually working?

It was not to last however. When the Mizukage engaged the assailant behind the statue, she could envision her own defeat. Quickly surrounding the two in a Hidden Mist Jutsu, she allowed herself a few seconds to recover. The effort was for naught. She was suddenly pulled out of her own mist by an unseen force of gravity, straight into the awaiting choke of the masked man. As the mist cleared, she held back a sob. All around her, all of her ANBU, as well as her swordsman and Aoi, were being burned alive by the black flames of Amaterasu. She briefly noted small flickers of blue fire, but payed them no heed. As she hoped the rest of the civilians and ninja had gotten away, she was once again floored by the sight behind the masked man. The Statue was preparing to fire another tailed beast bomb, one so massive it wouldn't matter if the inhabitants had evacuated the village, the surrounding landscape, around 25 square kilometers' worth of land, would be annihilated. Hope was los-

Her world suddenly turned white. She briefly saw the statue wither in pain from the Acidic Steam rising from the ground as a huge geyser. The statue shrunk before retreating into the shaking man in front of her as he retreated. She vaguely noted her form being ravaged by bugs now, and the smell of acid in the air, as her nerves tried to tell her of the incoming pain. She ignored it however. All around her, the buildings were crumbling, melting into the acidic mist. She saw her dying men breathe a sigh of relief as a warm and deceptively pleasing steam washed over them. She saw their bodies melt away, yet, as she lost consciousness, she herself sighed in relief. Whoever the final attacker was, he had knowingly or unknowingly saved the rest of her evacuating people, and for that, she was thankful. She was still single, yes, and would die single, a sorrow indeed, but perhaps, just maybe, the masked man would die, and her people could continue, somehow, into the future.

The Hidden Mist Village was no more. In its place, the Acidic Mist Swamp lay.

XXX

3 Villages Remained.

XXX

Obito cursed again.

Everything had been going smoothly in the Final battle of the former Hidden Mist Village. Until his Gedo Statue manifestation had been horribly burned by some fool's final attack he supposed. He had had to retreat, but he knew enough that the Hidden Mist Village was destroyed, literally a sludge of it's former self. However it was the injuries he had sustained in the final few moments that had stopped him from moving on to The Hidden Stone Village right away. And hence, he supposed, they had more time to prepare, and were ready for him when he came. The had anti-space-time seals in place for kilometres around the village, a legacy worth noting for it showed just how fearful his former sensei had become.

As he began his assault, Obito wondered just what the world would be like in the next week. Even his own second sensei, Madara, could never have predicted such an outcome. Truly there was some unknown force in the world that was changing the flow of things much too drastically for his liking. Pushing the thoughts aside however, he commanded his statue to fire. For however prepared it may be, the Hidden Stone Village would still fall on this day, of that he was certain.

XXX

Oonoki hated the world.

For once he would like to go to a parlor, get his back massaged, and come back to his office without the world blowing up in his face. Now here he was, facing down the force capable of wiping out two other Hidden Villages, albeit they were weaker and less prepared, of that he was certain. He had evacuated civilians two days ago, along with a few veteran shinobi and younger forces as well. It would do no good for a village to fall without a contingency to help restart them again. But that was a last resort, this monster would be stopped here and now by the Hidden Stone, and he would do his utmost as the Third Tsuchikage to ensure it.

XXX

Shino observed.

Throughout the past few days, he had been doing that a lot. He wasn't actually at any of the battles, but he had a huge enough network to have millions of bugs ready at his beck and call. Hence it was easy enough to scavenge the wreckage of the Masked Man's attacks. They seemed too convenient. It was a little unfortunate that only a bit of the Eight Tails had been absorbed by him, but even he had to admit that the jutsu used by the statue to absorb chakra was far beyond his own. He was currently working on a project or two to defeat the monster eventually, but it would take time- something he seemed to be running out of these days.

He briefly noted Tayuya entering his room. They were currently in the Forest of Death- he had parted ways with her before, leaving her with a clone as he went to Konoha. She knew of part of the situation but she was still a bit worried he supposed. As a constant accomplice of his, she got to see just how long he had spent in these crusades of his. His clansmen had only not been worried because of his clone, but even still, it was becoming harder to keep up appearances. His clone he had left in Konoha had been isolated for the most part, and had been able to keep a consistent identity. However it had not been with Shino during the 3 years and hence his current personality had trouble portraying his former personality from three years ago. Because he was usually ignored, it wasn't too big of a problem, but now some 'friends' had even started asking questions.

His thoughts turned to Tayuya again. The girl had come a long way from the potty-mouth of 3 years ago. She seemed more calm now, and for some reason, seemed more worried now then before. It puzzled him. He had never been good with emotions and what not. So he wondered why she was like that around him. Why she was even around him now was a question. He was a far cry from three years ago, and now had no qualms with killing as a Shinobi. Three years ago, he would have avoided unnecessary bloodshed. Now however, it seemed all bloodshed was necessary for his goal to work. He had sometimes contemplated leaving her behind, for sure she was weaker than he, and dragged his travel time down. Yet he simply couldn't for the life of him. Not that he would ever admit anything, but the thought of her companionship not being there made him feel something uneasy. He just couldn't figure out what or why.

XXX

The battle waged on.

Being shinobi who focused their techniques heavily on the terrain around them, the Hidden Rock village was doing much better than Obito would dare admit. They had currently entrapped his Gedo Statue between two halves of a man-made mountain. Utilizing quicklime and magma, they had also proceeded to entrap the monster even more, and had taken especial care to block its mouth, enabling no Biju Bombs, and no other attacks from the statue.

It was more than any of the previous villages had done to stop him. Obito had first intended for a quick sweep through all villages in under 24 hours. That had been quickly stopped when he realized just how much chakra was needed for a full-on attack like he had been doing. So, it had been slowed to one village a day. Then an injury had set him back. And now the remaining villages would be prepared to face him- not that they could hope to stop him.

He idly toyed with the idea of fighting the Tsuchikage in a long drawn out battle. It would be entertaining to the see the despair in the man's eyes as he saw how outclassed he was. Or he could outright kill the man, and not take any chances of surprise attacks on him… long drawn out battle it was. Perhaps it was a childish part of him, but he still liked a small beatable challenge when he saw one.

Five minutes later, Oonoki layed at his feet. For the old geezer's defense, he was powerful in his jutsu, but weak in his body. Adding insult to injury, his opponent's rinnegan negated ninjutsu, he could phase through taijutsu, and his sharingan negated genjutsu. Truly a perfect opponent, no discernible weakness.

Around them, just like with the Mizukage, his top shinobi lay defeated. As he struggled to get to his feet, Oonoki cursed. While his civilians and younger forces had been evacuated, it seemed the rest of his village would be levelled to the ground. His back also decided this was the perfect time to give in. Realizing this was his last day, he decided on two things. One was to avenge his two jinchuuriki, for he should have cared for them more, rather than leave them to the dogs. Them and his elites, who were dying around him. The second was the rest of the world. Where he lay defeated, he hoped for another part of the world to take him down. As much as he hated to admit, the best chance now left to the world was Konoha. With these things in mind, he quickly used his finest chakra molding and sent a small tremor in the earth, towards Konoha, then as it left, he slammed his hands into the ground, and screamed. His back was already gone, but it didn't matter; after this, so would he.

It surprised Obito so much he couldn't believe his sharingan. As he leapt away, he realized just how much someone could fight back when they were sure to die. After all, it wasn't every day when the ground around you for 50 square kilometres suddenly gave way, becoming the world's biggest sinkhole, straight into the core of the earth

'In your face Hashirama, Madara! I bet your valley can't even hold a candle to my last legacy' Oonoki thought bitterly as he fell along with everyone else in the immediate vicinity. As he fell, he felt bugs eating him alive. He would have screamed, but his body was so tired he gave up responding. With his final energy, he looked up at the despairing man trying to save himself and his statue. Even his rocket-like feet he had made could not escape the literal gravity of the situation. Locking eyes, he gave a wicked smirk befitting the Fence-Sitter, pulled his fist up, and gave him the middle finger.

XXX

The man screamed to high hell as he died.

XXX

Shino was mystified.

It was something that didn't happen all too often, usually with his situation in regards to Tayuya, but there was something off. The man had apparently died as he fell into the core of the planet. Yet as he fell, Shino's bugs could have sworn he made some definite hand signs in the last few seconds. Nothing seemed to happen, yet there was something just outside his knowledge he could not figure out. Either way, it was time to gather his bugs, formulate his final strategies, and achieve his penultimate colony. The finale was approaching.

XXX

Izanagi was useful indeed.

It had also been the only way Obito had survived, and for having had to resort to that, Zetsu had laughed and scorned him at the same time. The old fart was dangerous for sure. Now fortunately he was dead. Given that due to Izanagi his Statue and body had been restored completely, he quickened his plan.

XXX

The Hidden Stone Village had fallen one hour ago. In it's place, lay the Earth's Broken Heart, for now, the core of the planet, the heart, had a hole straight to it's core. An hour from now, the Hidden Sand would becoming simple sand drifting in the wind.

Scratch his previous statement, when he arrived, Obito found a ghost of a village. No one walked the streets, no one was in their homes, no one was even in the desert besides him.

Had he known what fully transpired with the previous Kazekage, he would have known that the village had fallen into disarray. While shamed in the past, it had been ironic that Gaara was really the lynchpin keeping his entire village together. With his death, no one else was powerful enough to be Kazekage. This the people had recognized, and in lieu of this, had taken drastic actions. Many civilians had been evacuated for weeks now, but after a scout had spotted the ruins of the Hidden Cloud and Mist Villages, it hadn't taken long for the rest of the Hidden Sand to hurry on out. They were not powerful enough to take on this masked man, not in the slightest. However, perhaps there might be one hope left in the world: Konoha, the last Great Hidden Village left standing.

Now as he stood in the abandoned village, Obito screamed in frustration. Everything had been perfect. Now everything had been going to hell. He would have continued to yell for another hour or two, when he was blindsided. Literally. All around him, the desert became a brilliant, blinding white. Obito shut his eyes quickly, as did his statue. Merging quickly with his statue, he flipped parallel with the ground, before erecting a barrier all around him. It was one so powerful only multiple bijuu bombs could crack it.

That was exactly what happened.

Following the white light, the entire desert of wind country erupted into a sea of black, white, and red chakra. And everyone in the world saw it. A Pillar of Light, reaching up for kilometers into the sky, as large as a country.

XXX

Everyone in the world also happened to be in Konoha. Now literally the last surviving village, all fragments had coincidentally come to Konoha, all with the aim to get help.

As she saw the country wide mountain of an explosion coming from Wind Country, the one stretching for a hundred kilometers into the sky, Tsunade couldn't help but wonder just exactly what monster they were about to face. The past four years had seemed normal enough. Naruto had been found by Kakashi after his battle with Sasuke, and there had been an uneasy peace in the nations. Then overnight, Jiraya had died, villages were being destroyed, and now her whole world was being turned upside down as she was being given another report on the numerous sand shinobi appearing at their doorsteps. From what she saw of the explosion she could only assume they either had next to no time at all, or they had a week if the assailant had been injured.

It seemed almost surreal. The world was changing, and too quickly at that. Many nations would join up with them, but then what? They fight, and if they survive, would the other nations stab them in the back if they were weak? Separate and fight again? She had no idea, but for now, she had to prepare for war. It was time to call Naruto back from his training.

XXX

Sasuke made his way towards the Hokage tower. He felt tense.

It was to be expected when you're sharing a body with the snake who wanted said body for all of three years. But it was not like either of the two had planned. Injured and shaken by the events that had transpired when they were ambushed in Sound, they had since retreated together with Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin, before the two leaders melded together into a single entity. Power was of the essence right now, comfort be damned. Currently the body looked more like Sasuke's with Orochimaru's eyes and marks, as well as a mixed hair colour. The situation was so grim they had decided to meet with Tsunade and join her force, and truth be told, they were confident in their plan succeeding. Tsunade was in dire need anyways.

XXX

Plans never go smoothly. It was something Obito found out the hard way. While he had created a strong barrier, the barrage of country-wide blasts had made him put more chakra then he would like to admit into his barrier. Now after recuperating for a few days, he was preparing for what was most probably the last major battle in shinobi history. After this, the world would have no wars, simply repair, and then, once the bijuu finally reformed he would go forth with the Eye of the Moon Plan. Only then would true peace be attained. He decided now that there would be no long battle, none if he could try. Rather, it would be a one-sided massacre. The civilians would evacuate and then start villages again, but with such a power looming over their heads no one would be able to fight. In a way, Nagato's plan for peace would be achieved, but in this case, would be a simple intermediate for True Peace.

Taking a deep breath in, the former Konoha shinobi readied himself.

Then he commanded the Gedo Statue to fire.

It was approaching night.

Soon the world would be alight.

Alight with fireworks.

Truly a night to celebrate the last struggle of the world.

XXX

The civilians had already been evacuated and the shinobi had taken their post when signs of a glowing ball were seen in the distance. As it neared, some of the lower, more naïve shinobi pissed their pants. The higher ups waited in baited breath.

Halfway through it's flight, the Bijudama collided with another, then rose higher into the sky, and the combine explosion lit up the surrounding landscape.

Naruto had arrived. And was in full control of his Bijuu. That much was evident by the glowing Nine Tails present at the front lines. Beside him stood a stone golem, an army of weasels and puppets, and a fully formed, but not perfect Susano'o. Usually, such a feat would be difficult to achieve for Sasuke alone. However, armed with Suigetsu's water body for stability, Jugo's nature chakra for support, and Orochimaru's regeneration for his eyes, he was well and ready. His Mangekyou Sharingan had manifested when he saw his brother's dead, mutilated body at the former site of the Hidden Rain.

Behind them, stood the combined forces of the remaining villages. It was a battle for the fate of the world.

XXX

Shino observed the others through his clone. He wasn't actually at the battle field, but deep within the Forest of Death. It had become a second home of sorts to him. While he could just as easily be at the front lines, he found that he looked a lot like a generic, fodder-esque ninja, and so would be able to conduct more operations from afar, hidden from the world. He supposed it was a lot like puppetry. Only his puppetry continued to evolve. Even now, as the fight was going on, millions of bugs were evolving, hatching, from the breed he had made as a collection of all chakras and natures he had taken from others. It would take some time, perhaps an hour, for his colony to be fully ready, but with all the forces at the battle field, he reasoned it was more than enough time.

XXX

As she kept watch over their hideout, Tayuya grew nervous. While she may have been keeping an illusion over them, she could barely keep herself collected. Due to her injuries, when she was first with Shino, Tayuya had struggled to fight on her own. Now, while she could fight, most of it was done by Shino, with his larger colonies controlling the battlefield into submission. She knew him to be one of the strongest people in the world by this point, and in all honesty, the best ninja, though she would never dare admit that out loud. He had been able to remain in the shadows, with almost no traces leading back to him from any of the events that transpired in the world. No one would think such grand events could be the work of a young Aburame boy. The only trouble the boy was perhaps having was his own family, given that they themselves used bugs and could learn a thing or two about another from their own bugs. Most did not notice, and she was not there with him around his clansmen, but even she had her suspicions as to possible problems in the future. Now however, while she could not be certain, she had a feeling that illusion or not, there was someone watching them, just not doing anything at this point in time.

XXX

It was a point of contention as to who was winning by the time an hour passed.

The Earth Golem, and Weasel as well as Puppet Armies had been reduced to nothing. The other forces couldn't do too much either except give moral support given how large the battle was. But the statue itself, had now shapeshifted into the form of the Masked Man, huge, large and imposing. Shinra Tensei was hard to fight, but by this point not impossible. The Animal Summons at this point were simply annoying and burned by Amaterasu. The Asura Path was doing some work, pummeling Naruto and Sasuke back with mechanized blasts of chakra. However the most annoying part was that all of these factors were combined with Kamui, making it hard to hit the man. It had been figured out that while the man was attacking he had to become tangible, but taking these opening were easier said than done. Taking an annoyed sigh as another bout of titanic blows was exchanged, Obito pulled back. He had had enough. The two of them could not fly, jump high yes, but not fly. Hence, using a bit of the Seven Tails remnant chakra, he flew far above the two of them, beyond their range. Amassing chakra, he watched on impassively as his opponents down below tried to put up a combined shield and Bijudama.

This time it would be hopeless.

Konoha had by this time, been mostly destroyed by the battle.

Now it would be rubble, and it's residents, ashes.

He swung his hand down. The command had been given. The Gedo Statue fired.

XXX

Naruto looked on in despair.

He seemed to have that a lot on now. First his sensei had died. Then he had a very brief reunion with his parents as he was fighting Kurama, one over too quicly for his liking. Then he was battling alongside Sasuke, only this time, melded with Orochimaru. Now he was facing down what looked to be certain death. He knew instinctively. The incoming Bijudama could not be blocked, countered, redirected, or absorbed. Yet he still tried, if anything, the explosion might be mitigated slightly by a combined resistance.

As he saw the masked man swing his hand down for the command, the shot… never came. Chaos quickly ensued. It seems even his opponent had not anticipated this, evident from his panicked hand motions. Whatever it was, he could care less of the cause and more about future results. He had a world to save after all.

XXX

Obito raged internally.

The Statue couldn't fail. Worst of all, if it even could, which it somehow was, why now of all times! Right when he was on the cusp of victory, there was always something blocking him, like an irritating bug just waiting to be squashed.

Quickly absorbing the Gedo Statue, he prepared to use his own control to gain control of the Bijuu chakra inside to annihilate the remaining forces. When he sealed the statue however, he felt a searing pain. He felt vessels start to clog, due to miniscule webs, as well as become acidic and burn himself from the inside out. He couldn't even move his hands, for a neurotoxin had entered his system, and caused his nervous system to start collapsing. As he fell, he found himself surrounded by a haze, a dense smoke all around him and the statue. Then, without warning, a Dust Style Jutsu Cleared the right arm of the Gedo Mazo. A smaller beam stabbed through his toe. Suddenly the entire terrain around them transformed into bugs, before materializing into the Seven lower tailed beasts. At their base, another man came out of the ground. He seemed to be young, around 16 or 17, and from his attire his Aburame lineage could also be recognized.

As Obito died, his body and chakra devoured by the bugs outside and inside him, he realized one thing. His downfall had been overlooking the one thing no one would believe. That this boy (he was sure of it) had defeated Kakuzu, Hidan, and then the rest of Akatsuki, all due to his anonymity. Every time he had been hampered in the past few days, it made sense that the instruments used were derivatives of the Tailed Beast chakra the boy had absorbed.

"Boy… who are you?"

"Who, Me?" The boy asked in return. "I am… Nobody, and Nobody is all anybody will ever know. Why you may wonder? Because shinobi are not meant to have explosive jutsu and crazy colors. No, they are supposed to be born in the dark, live in the dark, work in the dark, kill in the dark, and ultimately die in the dark. For a shinobi's power is only as much as how much others do not know about."

'That is probably the most an Aburame has ever or will ever say in one breath' Obito painfully mused. 'Beaten by a Nobody. Heh, and here I was thinking I was the clever Nobody. Well, it seems it really takes one to beat one'. His plans would never come to fruition. That he realised. Yet despite all this, he wanted to know why the boy was fighting, what his own goal was. And again, just as it had been for Kakuzu, Shino gave the dying man an insight into his end game. It was much more clear cut now, that had been Kakuzu's last question. As his body died, Obito realized the perfection in this plan. It was… simply too good. It made his plan, as well as Nagato's plan, look weak. In a word, it would be one accomplished, and the world at large would probably never know.

XXX

It seemed… anticlimactic.

Way too much for a scale this large. For the masked man's final attack to simply fizzle as it had, and the masked man to simply disappear without a trace? It simply didn't add up. Generations later, the answer would still be shrouded in mystery. Anyone who would come close to the answer mysteriously died before anything of substance could be given. But for now, the shinobi could not rest. Paranoid as they were, the shinobi alliance did not rest until they were sure the masked man was dead. They were proven wrong. The masked man did appear, and in the most unsuspecting of places. Many shinobi died. Many went missing in action, only to appear later with a haunted look in their eyes. They were surveyed for any genjutsu or anything to determine if they were under the enemies' control. However, the doctors reported nothing out of the ordinary, simply some head trauma. Everything felt surreal. Overpowered enemies were lying in the shadows. MIAs were coming back unharmed and untouched. Some shinobi had almost gone insane due to this surrealism. A trip to the doctor had cured them somehow, but no one questioned it. The doctors simply seemed to be really good at their job.

XXX

The war raged on.

Unlike before, the enemy was not progressing much. In fact they seemed to be attacking further back from Konoha over the years. Yes, years. 2 years had passed since the Anticlimactic End as people were now calling it. The shinobi were tiring. Resources were diminishing, slowly, but inevitably.

Then the first major hit to morale was found in Kiba. It was on a night patrole. The entire squad had been killed. Akamaru had been killed. Kiba was found, staring into space, a look of despair seeping into his face. When he was found in the hospital bed, he was muttering "o…o..." continuously. A few days later, it had turned into "no…no...". Pretty soon he was sputtering out "…ino…ino…" Ino had been called. She had stayed by his side constantly, trying to figure out what he was trying to say. So far she had gotten vigorous side to side head movements.

Then one day, while she was next to him, Kiba broke down. He started crying on her shoulder, crying until the next morning. Her clothes were wet. His eyes were puffed. She was worried.

That day, Kiba Inuzuka retired from the Shinobi Forces. He then went back to his clan compound, and proceeded to exist. Not live, not die, simply exist in a state of being. Eat, sleep, walk, barely talk, eat, sleep. He held no emotion but despair. He shut himself off from everyone he could. His mother, his sister, Hinata and Shino. He especially would scamper away from him if they were in the same area. It was masked, but if one were to observe carefully, his eyes displayed unbridled fear. No one ever noticed that detail though. No one except one. And he wasn't going to tell, it simply would not be rational.

Kiba would soon be joined by Ino. No words needed to be said. Her eyes spoke more than her mouth, and like he had with her, she cried on his shoulder until morning. She knew he hadn't been calling her. But she would keep the guise that he had. And either way, she had fallen for the former dog boy, and he for her. They married in a quiet ceremony. They refused to have a kid. They didn't adopt one either. Strangely enough though, they then dedicated their life to making the biggest garden ever. It wouldn't have been so strange, had it not been for the plants they grew.

Man-sized bug-eating plants to be exact.

Had a kid of theirs' ever been born, it would have looked like them, talked like a kid, everything. Except it would have had the blackest eyes possible. Eyes that belonged more to an insect than a human being. The kid also would never have listened to them. It would however, have listened to his Uncle Shino more, that, was without a doubt the only truth.

XXX

4 years after the Anticlimactic End, Choji had developed a most absurd eating disorder, where all his fat was constantly burned. Techniques could no longer be performed, for he was almost always low on chakra and completely low on fat. He was deemed unfit for the Ninja Forces, and was forced to resign. He fell into depression soon after. He never rose out from it afterwards. It would be known that he rejected everyone who came close to him, especially potential futures spouses. He became cold in public, but only to his family and close friends did he show a state of utmost vulnerability. He killed himself a few years later, by ironically, allowing one of Kiba's plants to eat him alive. A lonely bachelor until the end, his only solace in death was that he would be rid of his artificial disease once and for all. Now there would be nothing to bug him anymore. He would not need to purposely break the hearts of potential spouses. He broke the hearts of his immediate family and friends yes, but it was a small price to pay to get away… away from them!

His best friend Shikamaru had returned from one battle without functioning arms. There were no broken bones, no severed nerves, yet he could not move them. Rather, he would not move them. He had gathered all his usable chakra and moulded his shadows into the thickest, blackest wrap around his arms, binding them irreversibly. Nothing could enter his arms. Nothing could leave them and spread either. No one could get out of him why he did that Alongside him, Temari had gone into shock. No one could get out of her what was wrong. She was silent. She spoke with Shikamaru yes, but they revealed nothing. They also married, and resigned from the forces. No kid was ever born. True, there had been one conception, but amidst hidden doors, it had been aborted immediately. No one was any the wiser… mostly. Most peculiar of all however, bug spray had been showered on the unborn fetus, then burned by a smokeless fire. Nothing remained after the matter. They joined Kiba and Ino in their endeavours to raise huge carnivorous plants, ignoring the stares of their friends as to why. Every time a bug was killed, they squealed a broken glee. By the end of their life, they had gone nigh insane. As intellectually gifted as they were, Shikamaru and Temari each died seconds after each other, after running into the Aburame Clan compound at night, unleashing their most dangerous plants, before being consumed in the crossfire. The cause of death was not exactly known, but whether it be insects of plants, both had died with slasher smiles on their faces, finding peace upon meeting Choji in the afterlife. Him and their unborn child, pure at last.

XXX

When Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee vanished one night, morale had hit next to rock bottom. Those still living, of the flames of hope that were the Konoha 12, included only Ino and Kiba, and they had retired and become recluse. Temari and Shikamaru had recently died along with Choji. Hope seemed lost.

People at once began to miss the vibrant youth and his springtime, or the kunoichi and her weapon displays, or the silent and stoic but respectful boy and his generosity. It had been 6 years since the Anticlimactic End. The war was still on, but it seemed as if the masked man was finally whittling down the numbers of the alliance. People were beginning to think of appeasement, and as much as she hated to admit it, even Tsunade was beginning to realize a loss.

As she was about to head out of her office one night, she saw a file for the upcoming biopsy of another mysteriously returned man. She had been handing it down to her doctors for years now, yet for some reason her curiosity peaked. Calling forth Sakura, the two hurried down to the diagnostic room.

They came upon a strange site. The patient was sitting on the table, and the doctors, with their backs towards the two females, around him were standing. But that was it. There was no movement, no analysis, nothing! Their sudden movement alerted the occupants of the room. When they turned, where their faces were supposed to be, were insects. Gapping holes showed nothing but insects, even on the inside.

The head medic, who coincidentally happened to be Shizune, had the audacity to ask what the Hokage-sama was doing here. She received a fist to the face. The bugs scattered, and started to merge with the other doctors and the patient. Tsunade and Sakura watched on in horror.

'No wonder there have been no reports about anything strange, the doctors are not here anymore. Yet Shizune, she wasn't a bunch a bugs a few days ago, she bled just a few days ago meaning she must have gotten replaced. Yet her skill with medical jutsu had not plummeted at all. Perhaps… no way! She was consumed and replaced using her own former chakra. But if she has been replaced, and this dilemma has been going on since the Anticlimactic End, then millions could be bugs and enemies.'

"But the masked man is the enemy so how does he have control over bugs? Unless… he never fired the final bijudama because he was killed then and there! But if that happened, and he has been sighted again and again, then he has to be made of bugs as well. But if he is made of bugs, the controller has to be… ABURAME!? "But who could that-" She had started speaking out loud, and from the looks of it, Sakura had reached the same conclusion. She was interrupted mid way through her thought process, when she sensed a discrete presence behind her. As she turned around, she came face to face with the unassuming form of Shino Aburame.

"-be?!" She finished.

"Shino what are you doing here?" She asked, no, barked. She was in no mood for pleasantries, and from the gut feeling in her stomach, she had a bad feeling about the most ignored ninja in front of her.

"Who me, Hokage-sama? I was simply visiting to make sure my fellow colleague was feeling better from all of the trauma he had suffered. He is alright, yes?" he questioned.

Tsunade could not let go of the feeling of unease. As she looked at the bugs behind her, and the Aburame infront of her, she realized two things. Firstly, while she was blocking the view, she was quite certain Shino would be able to see it, yet he hadn't reacted too much. Secondly, the chakra in the bugs matched that of another in the room, and it wasn't Sakura. Wait, come to think of it, she wasn't sensing much of Sakura either. As she turned to glance at her student, she realized where her student had formerly stood, now lay a pile of writhing clothes, ones which began to quiet down in 5 seconds. Shino had still not reacted.

"You seem… unsurprised, Shino, that a comrade is dying right before your eyes, yet you go out of your way to visit a relative stranger?"

Shino swore inside. He had forgotten that aspect of camaraderie. Well, the charade was up, at least from the Hokage. It was time to initiate the final few points of his plan.

"How astute of you Tsunade-sama. Perhaps we can discuss…" From his sleeves, a brilliant white burst. "Over a cup of tea?" He intoned. His smirk was anything but nice. As Tsunade made to move, she buckled. As her vision started to fade, she saw a pure white insect lounging on her fist, from when she had punched the Shizune clone.

"Fuc-" She couldn't finish her sentence. Her heart had stopped just moments ago after all.

XXX

The brightest lights of the nation had fallen. That much most realized. Most had died, some had retired, all in all, of the hopes of the leaf village, most lay now in Uzumaki Naruto, his wife Hinata Hyuga, and his brother in arms Sasuke Uchiha. Orochimaru was melded in there as well, but it was a necessity. It was now 10 years since the Anticlimactic End. It was time for a final battle. The 3 had trained, and awakened chakra gifted to them by Hagoromo and Hamura Otsutski, given to finally free humanity of the evil of the masked man. They had left the village in the thicket of night, with Shino by their side, the only other remaining ninja willing to go with them, after finding out the location of the masked menace. It would be the sight of his downfall. It would be unfortunate though, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata thought. Shino would be slaughtered. Distraction yes, but he would be slaughtered. They simply had more power, and either he would be ignored again, or he could do nothing to change the outcome of the battle. Atleast they showed him that he mattered, that was what counted, right? He had been left out of the Sasuke Retrieval Mission so this had to count for something…right?

XXX

Shino sighed.

It had been a long 10 years. Now it would finally end. Tonight was the night everything would finish. Zetsu had been assimilated sometime in the chaos after the Anticlimactic End, and his memories explored. It was interesting in a sense. Kaguya would never be revived, and if anything, he could become a greater shinobi than even her power could match, of that he was certain. Madara would also never be revived, and while his plan in another reality may have worked, in this one, no one accounted for one Aburame to mess everything up.

As his clone ran with the others, his thoughts in 'the masked man's hideout, turned to his faithful companion. Tonight would mark the 13th Year since they had first met. He still could not figure out what he felt for her. He knew now, that, especially when alone, he felt an emptiness without her, perhaps he reasoned, because she wasn't there to complain about the situation and allow him to explain or something. Deep down he knew there was more to it, but he didn't dare think about that. Not now. He was going to be a perfect ninja now he couldn't let someone as frail as a red-haired girl stop him.

XXX

The man sighed.

Tonight was the night alright. He had heard in the air. The fate of the world would be decided by morning. As he prepared himself, he looked upon the pictures in front of him. One had his son, graduating from the academy, stoic, but slightly happy for once. The second had a picture of his old team. His face fell upon a special blonde boy.

"Minato, what has the world come to now?"

XXX

Naruto was in shock.

Sasuke/Orochimaru could not believe his eyes.

Hinata was confused.

Shino was stoic, as usual.

When after a long battle, the masked man had finally been caught off guard and his mask shattered, the face behind was not that of a masked man, complete with a Sharingan and what not. Instead, the face was that of Tayuya, one not seen by Orochimaru in almost 13 years. Naruto vaguely remembered her, but thought she had been killed long ago by Shikamaru and Temari. He seemed to be wrong. The clothing, or rather as it would become apparent, bugs, soon turned into sand and fire, before floating towards the 4 ninja. While Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto moved away, Shino didn't. The ensuing dust made it seem as if a casualty had occurred. The remaining three ninja were then surprised even more, when instead of crushing him, big white bugs had surrounded Shino in a cloak as if he was their leader- scratch that he was their leader. As Tayuya came behind to join him, Hinata asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Shino… What are you doing with her? Wh-"

"Put simply Hinata, I must ask you all a simple question. Just what is the ideal shinobi? You? Naruto? Sasuke? There is no need to answer, I have been with you all long enough to know you all think so. After all, the perfected jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the Last Uchiha, and the Hyuuga Heiress, all boosted by the power of the 6 Paths. Truly invincible in your own respects. But in terms of being shinobi, you have all failed."

Everyone was shocked. Just what was their friend talking about. It took a few seconds, but Sasuke responded. He had been less shocked by the last few minutes, his mind piecing the events together with a single moment 13 years in the past.

"You left 13 years ago, didn't you? The you we see now, may be the real one, but most probably for the last 13 years or so, you have been away from the Hidden Leaf, haven't you? I saw you at the The End when I was battling Naruto. It was because of you that I won and Naruto lost chakra. Yet here I am still alive."

"All correct Sasuke. I left because my bugs fed on Chakra. The Hidden Leaf limited their feed and thus their growth. Moreover, what was the point of being a Shinobi when you're known? Shinobi are supposed to be assassins, hidden in the dark, unknown to all, successful in ther missions yet unsuspecting to everyone else. These are true ninja. People like Danzo Shimura. Some might think his methods to be despicable, but in reality, his true allegiance was to himself and his shinobi self. He fell to me in the end, but perhaps because no matter how discrete of a ninja he was, his reputation as a war hawk and Anbu Commander was his downfall. The masked man you fought also had a similar ideology. He was in fact, an Uchiha, but he fell due to his need to face the world strong and high. He lost his Shinobi Self when he decided to step into the limelight. It truly was an Anticlimactic End. You may think I will fall like him, as you have seen this side of me, this Shinobi, but in all honesty, that is if you win this battl-"

He was cut off by Naruto. Having heard Shino had been the Masked Man for so many years and killed so many others had removed all restraint he had. The 'Shinobi' had killed so many ninja, and for what? He may have told them later, but that could be figured out once they had neutralized him. There had been so many casualties, and here, with the cause in sight, it was time to put this stupid war to an end!

There was a similar reaction with Hinata and Sasuke. As they charged, Shino smirked. For all the bad qualities he had listed for them as Shinobi, atleast they didn't allow long boring villainous monologues for too long. Pulling Tayuya to the side, he stretched his muscles. While she was powerful, Tayuya was beneath his opponents, and that was fine by him. He had needed a stretch, and it would be nice to see the despair on his final three former comrades before he let them join the Carnivorous Plants of their ex-shinobi comrades. This would be entertaining.

Hinata's palm-strike had demolished the mountain range behind kamui-shifted Shino from the air pressure. Sasuke's firestorm had vaporised the one next to it. Naruto's Rasenshuriken had shredded another. The trio had decided to go serious from the start. While they did not know all of Shino's techniques, they presumed him to be dangerous enough to have by some miracle taken out the masked man. He had also managed to dodge each one of their attacks by some miracle. They were phasing through them like they did with the masked man, and as such the three had individually deduced that he had his powers as well. So they waited for his own attack, knowing that he needed to be solid to hit them.

When he went for the attack, Shino started his assault with a flick of his wrist, shooting a thick mess of webs from his wrists. As it spread out towards his opposition, the web began to move as if independent, slowly metamorphing from web to a hybrid between spider webs and Aburame bugs. The fire sent their way was quickly absorbed, with bones erupting from the smoke. It was only thanks to a well-timed Kaiten that Hinata survived.

The multiple rasenshuriken shot by Naruto were also dealt with in a similar fashion. The web-bugs latched on to the rasengan-core of the shuriken, before converting into clay and exploding, setting the explosion of the attacks off prematurely.

Naruto gritted in frustration. Chakra simply was not working against an Aburame… he should have figured before. At least not chakra with such a wide area of effect. But perhaps something fast enough would knock the Aburame. Gathering an immense amount of chakra in his feet, he dashed off towards Shino, and threw a tri-pronged kunai at him with blitzing speed. The kunai was stopped a centimetre away from Shino's head courtesy of a mass of bugs. The extended wind blade courtesy of the stored chakra was slightly dodged. It had almost caught Shino by surprise. What did seem to catch him by surprise was the teleporting Naruto to the Hiriashin formula on the kunai, his hand mid-punch right to his face.

The punch knocked the insect man kilometres away, straight into the mountain behind them. As the mountain shattered from the impact, Sasuke teleported in front of the downed Shino and gathering his chakra on the edge of his blade, bifuricated the shinobi, cutting through his bone and separating his legs from his torso. The Aburame spattered out blood in pain. He tried to reform his bugs into sand to reconnect his body. He was stopped by Hinata's overpowered 512 Palm strikes to his back, disrupting his chakra flow and removing legs and torso from each other by a great distance. It was something Shino had to admit. His opponents, were not by any stretch of the imagination, weak. They had blitzed him so fast he had not been able to see them until it was too late. Had he decided to have this battle with them even a day earlier, he would have died by now, no chance of recovery. However, that had been yesterday- today, his final hive had been formed, and as such, so had his final victory.

As they stood over his top half, the three shinobi sighed in relief. It was finally over. The threat- Shino, not the masked man- had been defeated and the world could again continue as it had. It felt so… nice to not have war. After 10 years, the world would come to know peace. Even Sasuke and Orochimaru agreed: there was no need for violence, there had been enough brutality to cover a lifetime for the two of them.

As they looked upon the dead man infront of them, all three wondered what his end game had been, and more importantly, when everything happened. It had been a shocking surprise to learn of Shino as the final villain. As they were considering what to do from that moment onwards, none noticed the large white bug crawling out of Shino's sleeve, or the slasher smile emboldened on his face.

In a single moment, the bug split into three, before each struck a target in the leg. Each of the three shinobi felt a pain, before falling to one knee. Before they lost consciousness from the bug bite, each saw Shino, clad in a white garb, standing above them, looking perfectly fine and whole, as if no bifurcation had ever happened.

"A note to you all. You should never keep your eyes off your enemy unless you are certain he is dead. And even beyond that, a true shinobi looks underneath the underneath. As such, while you all are powerful beyond a doubt, you all, as shinobi, are utter failures". With that, the world around them went dark.

Shino smiled.

It was one of accomplishment. He had perfect his colony in the nick of time and had bested the three hopes of the nation. Not that anyone else would kno-

He turned around quickly. Someone was here. Rather, two someone's were here. As if by unspoken invitation, one of the intruders stepped out from the shadows on the outskirts of the battlefield. It was none other than… Himself? No, rather, it was…

"You..." Shino stated. A tone of disbelief was slightly present in his voice. Standing in front of him was none other than Shibi Aburame, the head of the Aburame Clan, his father.

XXX

"How did you figure it out?" The younger Aburame asked. Perhaps he himself had gotten cocky, but that seemed slightly strange, he had made sure to keep his clone sustained all throughout his time away from the village and at no time had he felt a disturbance in his clone. Unless…

"It was your emotion- or rather, your lack of emotions in your body. Your scent was in your kikaichu, as was the chakra signature, even your heart beat was replicated, but the emotions I sensed in the body was of your bugs. While not noticeable by most, my own kikaichu are a special breed meant to detect the emotions of a being. Your kikaichu only responded to primal emotions such as extreme fear or bloodlust. While the Aburame clan is known for its stoicism, even as genin, our members still have emotions, ones that can be sensed by my bugs quite easily. I observed from afar and noticed that no one else seemed to notice anything odd out of place. I kept my silence, and kept my observance. It was after the bout I heard of between you and Kakuzu that I finally felt some emotion from you, something more human than your kikaichu. My observations increased, and with enough time and searching, I managed to come upon… your companion."

At the mention of his red-haired accomplice, Shino discreetly checked for Tayuya's location. He had infused one of his bugs into her to be able to track her at a moment's notice. Strangely enough, instead of being right behind him or behind his general vicinity, he… could not locate her. His eyebrows rose fractionally, an action that was however, not gone unnoticed by his father. Taking it as his cue, he shifted to the side, before causing the ground to shift up and reveal a wooden coffin, the lid off to show the unconscious form of one Tayuya.

While not much would have been noted by an outside audience, a sharp clenching of the fist was enough of an indication to the elder Aburame as to the comfort level of his progeny. What was more frustrating about this revelation was his inability to contact his kikaichu inside Tayuya. The Kikachu had been one of his perfect final colony, yet had somehow been neutralized for the time being.

"How?!..." The level-headed shinobi grunted out, his voice cutting through the air like a cold blade of ice.

"…" no verbal response was given. However, from the corner of his eyes, Shino managed to spot the figures of his previous 3 opponents being dragged away.

"Defeat me in battle and then your answers shall be revealed. And I caution you for the last time my son, while you may be powerful enough to defeat the three elites of the ninja alliance, if you do not come at me with everything you possess, you shall not win and hence, your dream will remain as such, a simple illusion, nothing more." While as stoic as it normally was, there was a tone in the voice of one Shibi Aburame that would have made anyone else piss themselves.

All around them, the ground for a hundred kilometers exploded into a sea of white as Shino Aburame unleashed his perfected colony, his Tenpenchii, The Natural Disaster Befalling Heaven and Earth, the Cataclysm.

What he did not expect however, was for the mountains around them, the few that remained, to burst forth in geysers of a deep indigo, masked leeches with a fluid chakra body. Shibi Aburame unleashed his own colony, one Shino had only read about years prior: The Zero Bliss.

"I never expected you of all people to command the Zero Bliss, father."

"Indeed it is strange how the world works, my son. I never in my wildest dreams thought you capable of commanding the Juubi, or rather, making Kikaichu composed of its chakra. For that, I respect you. However, your goal is still for the most part a mystery to me. You control the masked man, the leader of Akatsuki, and hence I presume you defeated him. Yet you hold the position of the enemy of the world. I know it was you who immobilised your own team mates. Yet you keep this pretense of an average shinobi, a nobody… why?"

Shino remained silent for a few moments. Then answered.

"You would understand, wouldn't you, tou-san? That a true shinobi is not like Naruto, Sasuke, or Hinata. No, it is one in the shadows. One who can maintain complete secrecy, who can manipulate events in such a fashion that there is no resistance against him, yet no one else knows."

"So you have realized. I suspect you have known for some time now. And as such we are of similar characters, my son. We maintain secrecy in order to be good- no, the best shinobi. My reputation is only known in the clan, and even then on only a mythical level, one no one would believe to be recent".

"Yet, father, for all that we are similar in, we are standing on opposite sides on this day. I am here to be the best shinobi in the world, and as such, to be the best shinobi ever. Why do I do this you may ask? I do this because then, eventually, I will be able to end all conflicts in the world. The era of shinobi is one continuously filled with bloodshed. Yet now, it will end. Or at least, it will fundamentally end. The shinobi era started with mercenaries coming together and forming hidden villages. This era will now end with all of those mercenaries losing their will to fight. It will be a slow process, and it will take many generations. But it is a process where, once started, will be unnoticeable and inevitable, and soon enough, the ninja way will be finished for good. And as the last shinobi, I will be the best shinobi. Yet you, why are you here against me?"

"It is because I am not a man for such a delusion, my son. What you dream is huge, what you set out to accomplish, even more preposterous. And against that I am a man of the 4th Hokage. My loyalty is to him unquestionably and now, to his son, Naruto Uzumaki. Call it what you will. But this world, this reality, has been firmly entrenched in this shinobi way of life. Attempting peace, one may try, but to rip out the very fabric of what make us who we are, there is no peace in that. I suppose that is one thing I cannot convince you of, because for how intelligent you are, you are twice as stubborn my son. This conversation will get us nowhere, for we two, we are the last of two completely opposite ideals. But alas, my son, I ask of you one last time as your father. Yield and surrender. While you may have overcome many foes, I am not many foes. Yield and we may end this upcoming bloodshed between a family."

His only response was a twitch of Shino's eyebrow.

Then the Cataclysm surged forward.

Shibi sighed, then lowered his head.

"Very well then. Have it your way."

The Zero Bliss attacked.

XXX

The final battle for the fate of Shinobi, had begun.

XXX

From what he saw, the Zero Bliss dwarfed the cataclysm 10 to 1 ironically. Further more, while the cataclysm could merge with each other and become one mass, the individual insects usually kept to themselves as they were now. The Zero Bliss on the other hand, seemed more like a sea of dark purple, with kikaichu bugs appearing at random in a mass of almost liquid-like darkness before fading back again.

"Multiple Mini Tailed Beast Bomb!" Shino pointed his kikaichu outwards, before each one of the millions of kikiachu formed their own Bijudama, each strong enough to eradicate a quarter of a village. Multiple lasers shot into the blackness, only to be absorbed without any effort.

"Cursed Seal Release!" The former one-tailed bijuu's cursed seal spread out from where the Bliss absorbed the bombs.

Shibi looked around at the frozen iceberg of a hive. "Clever, son, using the bombs as a conduit for fuinjutsu. Very clever. However…" Flexing his hand, he watched as the black markings turned a crimson red, "invert the seal, corrupt it enough, and…" The purple-black mass disappeared from the field, before slamming on the Tenpenchii from above. The continent buckled.

"And you speed yourself up beyond perception!" he somehow deadpanned. "The Zero Bliss brings everything down to its level, then sinks it into oblivion."

"Demonic Chains of the Unbound Lord!" Dark chains like the ones found from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path erupted from the ground, piercing the Bliss and immobilizing a part of it for an instance. Shibi grunted, immobilized through the psychic link he shared with his bugs. It was only a second or two more before he would recover from his shock and break from his chains. Sealing jutsu were always slightly tricker to deal with because the best of them counteracted even kikaichu bugs' chakra absorption for a second. He noticed he's be a second too late though: all around him, pinpricks of grape-sized bijudama formed, each holding the power of 5 biju; they were numbered among the TENS. He wouldn't be able to absorb the chakra this time.

BOOM!

A sphere of chakra, enclosed by fuinjutsu barriers kept the explosion contained to just Shibi. The illuminating light could be seen from space. The chakra spike could be felt all the way into the far reaches of space. Specifically by two Outsutski clan members.

Shino released a small jutsu to wipe away the dust and wind in the resulting seconds. He needed to see the outcome before he could be surprised.

When the dust cleared, Shibi stood.

Unscathed.

A blue glow came off of his veins. His kikaichu coat remained intact.

Shino's mouth flew open. He gaped.

"H-how?" It didn't make sense! Nothing should have survived that! Especially not without chakra!

"I will humour you this once my son. In the past I went on many adventures, same as yourself perhaps. Moryu, the Gelel stones of legend, the box of Eternal Bliss and its hidden secret, the Zero Tails and the Land of the Sky. All sources of diverse power. Extreme dark chakra; extreme regeneration; extreme life energy, a box made of the hardest material in existence; a beast of emotions beyond the 10 tailed beasts of history. Each was assimilated into the Zero Bliss. And each, had it's existence erased from the history books. Those that knew of these powers exist only as part of my Bliss. Those books that might have told of their existence, selectively wiped of that information, alongside their respective writer's knowledge. I will not die. I will not age. I will not stop. I cannot be stopped."

Shino processed the information in his mind. He processed it a thousand times. Shibi had revealed his hand. Or atleast part of his hand. But was that his whole hand? There had to be something more, some last surprise. Regardless, Shino couldn't find a way—

Shino had one idea. Yet it would tax him a lot. It was perhaps the only way to defeat Shibi.

But Tayuya… how would she survive?

Scratch that, why did Shino care?

Why did Shino care?

He couldn't answer.

Had he dug deep within himself he would've found a spark of companionship, of love, and his resolve would be shaken. But perhaps subconsciously, to avoid that, he didn't bother finishing this train of thought. He focused on Shibi.

"FUIN: 9 Soul-Reaping Dragon Encampment!" spreading his kikaichu thin, he forced them to the edge of the battlefield, through the Bliss, before all around, 7 indigo dragons rose. Of the Rinnegan's power, this was one unmatched in it's absorption. It absorbed the soul of the victim; there would be no afterlife, no end, just eternal torment for the second the jutsu was used. The Bliss moved inwards, gathering around Shibi in a mountain range of black oblivion. The jutsu had no equal—

"Seal of Eternal Bliss!" Shibi shouted. The Bliss formed a dome, before morphing into a compact box the size of a room, each side adorned with a horrid face. All opened. The box started sucking in the dragons.

Shibi smirked.

Shino smirked back.

Shibi frowned.

Throwing his hand in the air, Shino looked towards the moon, his Kikaichu following suit and morphing their eyes into Rinnesharingan.

"MUGEN KAMUI!"

The Rinnesharingan appeared on the moon, before morphing its tomoe into the iconic mangekyo, the rings still present.

Shibi's eyes widened.

All around them, the land contorted, twisted, ripping itself into an unseen void.

Standing inside the Dragon Dome, Shibi could do nothing but slowly absorb the jutsu as his world fell into the abyss.

Standing outside the dome, Shino did the only thing he could do: he ran. With his remaining bugs (ironically now only the size of his genin-day hive), he ran outside of the range of his largest jutsu yet.

He ran into the ocean.

He ran out, of the elemental nations.

XXX

The reason Momoshiki and Kinshiki Outsutsuki arrived decades earlier, was because they never expected Kaguya's planet to ever give off the chakra signature that it did. They could feel it as if they had been on the planet rather than on a different planet entirely.

Momoshiki as an individual, was cocky as hell. He always wore a grin that said "Bow down to me, I'm infinetly better than you could ever hope to be". His grin never faded away.

His grin never faded away, until he came upon Kaguya's planet.

Or…the half that was left of it.

Never in all his life, had Momoshiki seen a planet with an exposed core, completely missing exactly half of it's mass. It's moon faced said half strangely enough, and in the week he observed it for, it stayed fixated on that half.

When he searched for any chakra signature, he found one.

Correction, he found ONLY one, on the entire planet.

On a rock stood a man in a dark trench coat, looking off in the distance. He didn't appear to notice when Momoshiki came to a stop a few meters behind him. Yet momoshiki could feel an unbridled power brimming beneath the surface.

Something was…off.

"You there, do you know how this planet lost half of itself?" Momoshiki commanded.

"I do." The voice replied.

"Answer then."

"No."

"What?!" Momoshiki exclaimed. How dare this peasant ignore him!

"If you could have defeated me, I would have told you." The man continued facing away from Momoshiki. "However, you embody too many sins to even try and overcome your faults.

"Faults? FAULTS?" Momoshiki snarled. "I'll show you FAULTS!" Bringing his hand up, he prepared to fire this man to hell. "DIE—?" He stopped midway when he saw his arm, or atleast, what used to be his arm. It was gone, Rinnegan and all. Turning around, he saw the last horrified look Kinshiki gave him before he disintegrated away into a swarm of white bugs. He barely processed this, before realizing he was but a head left. He started to scream. He couldn't do that either because his vocal cords had been ripped long before he realized. His final glance, was towards the man whose face he didn't even see, the man who treated him as nothing more, than another insect.

Shino started walking away, stoically walking across the water, his slightly larger hive flowing after him. In the few weeks after his battle with his father, he found he could no longer absorb chakra. His bugs could no longer perform the most basic of Aburame Kikaichu function. Perhaps something to do with the Seal of Eternal Bliss. They retained all other abilities. But absorbing chakra he could no longer do.

On this other half of the world away from the elemental nations, he found fewer nations, less organized, more primitive, less ninja-like. He no longer needed to eat, he had all the natural energy in the world to suffice and recycle through. He wandered around, without a companion, on autopilot. Tayuya had been sucked alongside half the world into Kamui. Tayuya. The one name he could not rid his memory of.

Tayuya.

In his wanderings, one day, he came across an anomaly: A crack in Space-Time. Leaving behind one bug to act as a sentry on the half-world, and two others to start reproduction, he left the broken world. Tayuya was gone. The Shinobi system was gone. Civilians only remained, civilians without any potential to become shinobi. Shino was now the best shinobi in existence—the ONLY shinobi in existence.

Or so he thought until he crossed over into what he recognized as the Forest of Death, finding the recently deceased body, of his younger self.

XXXX

Author's Note: So I haven't written shit in forever. I apologize. I don't know when I will update my other stories, or if I will (nothing is confirmed). I don't have the current time or commitment to write long stories. Instead, I think I like this style of story telling. I'll be honest, I had written the vast majority of this one-shot 2 years ago, but the final fight had me stumped and then I decided a few weeks ago, lemme just get this done with. SO here it is. It's my take on what if Naruto wasn't the main character, and what if the main character applied themselves to their darkest most versions. Enter overpowered end results. Originally I was only thinking of doing this for Shino cuz this guy barely ever gets fanfics about himself. But, I have ideas for doing similar things with the other Konoha 11/12 as well. So lemme know in the comments (hopefully there are comments lol) about which character you might want to see next. Also comment on weaknesses and strengths and what you liked or disliked about the story and character. I know, I ain't the best at writing, but I wanted to get this out of my head.

Anyways, until next time,

Sage of the Sealed Paths


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